Coed and Women’s Division are Back…Already!

Barely a week after the end of the Winter season, the Spring 2022 season for the Coed and  Women’s division is here! Before getting into introductions and the heart of my article I would like to congratulate Bleu Poud, Volts, Power Rangers and Kiss My End Zone on winning their respective championships of the Winter 2022 season.

For all those of you who do not know me, I am Alexi Dubois and I have been writing the articles for the Coed and Women’s divisions for 4 years. I have also been playing in Coed since the Winter 2019 season. This year, I am playing on two Coed teams. In Coed 2 I am playing with Kiss My End Zone and in Coed 1 I am playing with Kiss My Outlaws. The most difficult aspect of writing about Coed is writing about my own teams. Bringing unbiased commentary to teams I play on is obviously impossible. So if anyone ever has anything they want to say about either of the two teams I play on, feel free to message me on Facebook or contact me via email at [email protected] I am extremely open to incorporating your feedback! Feel free to reach out to me anytime or simply talk to me at the field before one of my games.

In terms of the articles, I will try and keep a consistent format across the weeks. I will review a few games from the previous week, make predictions on some of the upcoming games and name 12 players to my team of the week. In addition to these weekly staples, I will also include divisional breakdowns, playoff predictions and power rankings if I feel the time is right. If there is something else you would like to see in the articles, please let me know. With that being said, let’s get into your week 1 article!

Week 1 Games of the Week

Fast Not Furious (32) vs The Justice League (28) – Coed 1

Coming into the season, I expected The Justice League to be the top dogs in the Coed 1 division. They have everything you want in a title contending team. With an experienced quarterback like Sara Parker and elite level athletes like Serge Pilon, it is easy to understand the hype around this team. They definitely did not live up to the hype in week 1 dropping both of their matches, including a 32-28 loss at the hands of Fast Not Furious.

Fast Not Furious are a new team to Coed 1 and the easiest way to describe them is an upgraded and Gino-less version of the Y&Y franchise we all know. Justin Weir has made the jump and is now throwing in Coed 1. In his debut, he looked the part, throwing for 171 yards and 4 scores and adding 43 rushing yards and a TD with his legs. The leading receiver on the night for FNF was James Drysdale who caught four passes for 73 yards and two scores. While Weir might have done a good job moving the chains on offence, his biggest impact in this game came on defence where he picked Parker off twice.

While FNF might have started the season with a statement win, there are still lingering questions about this team. Justin Weir has yet to prove himself as a quarterback at the higher levels of FPF. He has succeeded in division 5, but Coed 1 is a whole other level of play. For this team to have success, Weir will need to elevate his game to another level. Defensively, this team will also need to prove themselves. It is clear that this roster was built thinking of offence first and defence second. Their leading ballhawk should be Marvin Steinberg, but he is playing through a gruesome arm injury which is severely limiting his ability to catch the football. This team has the potential to be amongst the best in the division, but they will have a lot to improve.

For Justice League, their issue is less about improving and more about ironing out the kinks. They have playmakers at every single position. Serge Pilon is the best player in Coed 1 and potentially the best in FPF, Parker is the most experienced quarterback in the division, Kevin Lubin is a phenomenal physical presence Alex Laroche has one of the best football minds in Coed. When you have all of those pieces on the same team, the potential is palpable, and we saw glimpses of that shine through against FNF. Parker saw Pilon darting across the middle of the field running a post but underthrew him. Pilon leaped, contorted himself in the air and hauled in the ball with one hand and proceeded to run it in for a 40-yard score. As impressive as the play was, it was also indicative of Justice League’s larger execution issues. Parker should not be underthrowing her receivers and Pilon should not be forced to make circus catches when he has 5 yards of separation. This team was not executing anywhere close to 100% in week 1, but they were still able to keep things close against a very talented FNF team. The prospect of what this team can do once they are all on the same page should terrify the rest of the division.

Iced Out (20) vs Blue Wave (24)

These are two new teams to Coed and, honestly, I know very little about either one of them. Blue Wave wound up squeaking out a narrow 24-20 win over Iced Out in this game. As a matter of fact, it came down to the very last play. Iced Out scored with two plays left in the game to take a 20-18 lead and they thought they had it in the bag. After failing to complete a pass on the second to last play of the game, Blue Wave found themselves needing a final play hail Mary to win the game. Quarterback Jonathan Cantin said a prayer and chucked the ball deep. Carie-Ann Auger answered his prayers and hauled in the 40-yard pass for the game winning touchdown. As a matter of fact, Auger had a statement game in her FPF debut. She caught five passes on her way to totaling 86 receiving yards and two scores.

While I might not recognize a single name on this Blue Wave roster, they certainly have a lot to build on after week 1. Playing quarterback in FPF is no easy task, but Jonathan Cantin looks ready for the challenge. He threw for 180 yards and three scores. Most importantly, he only threw one interception. Perhaps the most promising sign from this Blue Wave team was how involved their female players were in every single aspect of the play. Auger had a fantastic night and led all Blue Wave receivers in terms of yards and touchdowns. Defensively, it was also the female players making a difference for Blue Wave. Maryse Paquette led the team in tackles with six while Thérèse Nguyen had a game high two defended passes. Having your female players involved, especially in the passing game, is key to success in the Coed division and Blue Wave look like they have understood that. 

As for Iced Out, they have gotten off to a slightly rockier start. After losing to Blue Wave on the last play, they were blown out by 3HUNNAS 58-12. While those two losses are crushing in different ways, Thomas Kerton proved he is amongst the top receivers in the division. He caught three passes for 100 yards and two scores versus Blue Wave and added an interception in that one for good measure. Clearly Kerton can be a difference maker, so the question is who else on this Iced Out roster can step up? Gabriel Coallier quietly had a solid performance. He caught all eight passes thrown his way for a total of 40 receiving yards. While Kerton and Coallier might be capable of moving the chains, the biggest question around this team is at the quarterback position. Emmanuel Brûlé looked good in the game against Blue Wave, throwing and running for a total of 200 yards and three scores. However, against 3HUNNAS, a more established and athletic team, he struggled throwing four interceptions and only one score. He made his first appearance as a quarterback in the winter season, playing four games as quarterback for Zidane Il L’a Frappée in division 6. In those four starts, he threw for as many TDs as he did interceptions. Throughout his first two starts in Coed, that 1-1 ratio has not changed. If  Brûlé hopes to lead this team to success, he will need to find a way to limit the turnovers.

Week 1 Team of the Week

Every week, I will name 12 players to the team of the week. If you make the offensive team of the week, you cannot be on the defensive one and vice versa. The team of the week will be made up of players from Coed 1, Coed 2 and the Women’s division. Only stats will be considered when choosing players for the team of the week. That means 100 receiving yards in Coed 1 is equivalent to 100 receiving yards in Coed 2. In the spirit of the Coed division, every team of the week will have a minimum of two female players on the offensive and defensive team.

Offence

Quarterback: Morgane Cosimano-Valois (Les P’tites Miettes) 16 completions, 263 passing yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs

Receiver: Mikael Arseneau (Les Princesses) 10 receptions, 136 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Dimitri Melsbach (Les Princesses) 4 receptions, 107 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Florence Normand (Les P’tites Miettes) 6 receptions, 107 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Boris Gagnier (Les Petits Phoques) 6 receptions, 113 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: El Andre Abbey (Justice League) 7 receptions, 100 yards, 2 TDs

Defence

Rusher: Julien Proulx (Sneaky Snakes) 1 tackle, 2 sacks

Defensive Back: Samuel Paul Carrire (3HUNNAS) 2 INTs, 2 TDs

Defensive Back: Mohamed Nechchad (3HUNNAS) 2 INTs

Defensive Back: Noémie Beaudet (Les P’tites Miettes) 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 TD   

Defensive Back: Alexis Ferrand (The Justice League) 2 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Esther Morin-Struthers (Les P’tites Miettes) 1 INT, 1 TD

Week 2 Predictions:

Fast Not Furious (1-0) vs EZFun (0-0) – Coed 1

Fast Not Furious got their season off to an impressive start with a win over Justice League. However, they are now facing off against a very different kind of opponent in EZFun. We all know that EZFun will score a ton of points. The weakness of this team is their defence. In order to win, FNF’s QB Justin Weir will need to play mistake free football. EZFun is not a very hard defence to move the ball against but since their offence is so good, a single interception can lose the game. As for EZFun, it will be interesting to see how they rebound after losing in the Coed 1 finals last season. White did a lot of things well in that game like throwing with anticipation but also made costly mistakes which ultimately resulted in Power Rangers winning the championship. If we see White build off the anticipatory throws we saw in the finals and limit mistakes, this EZFun team will be a hard one for FNF or anyone else to beat.

Prediction: EZFun

Kiss My End Zone (0-0) vs Princesses (2-0) – Coed 2

Les Princesses got off to a thunderous start this season with two wins in the opening week. However, they will be facing their toughest competition yet in week 2 when they square off against the defending champions Kiss My End Zone. From the limited sample size we have, stopping Les Princesses appears to be as simple as limiting Mikael Arseneau. However, limiting Arseneau is a lot easier said than done. He already has 136 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns on the season. As for KMEZ, they also have a lot to figure out. They are playing with Alexandre Noel at quarterback for the first time and have added Jules Fortin and Lory Ouellette to the team. While Fortin and Ouellette both impressed at the combine, meshing with their new team will take time. All in all, I have a hard time choosing against the defending champs and an even harder time when those defending champs are the team I play for!

Prediction: Kiss My End Zone

Sneaky Snakes (1-0) vs 3HUNNAS (1-1) – Coed 2

Sneaky Snakes are another team I know practically nothing about. What I do know is that they are loaded at the rusher position! Julien Proulx is a phenomenal rusher at any level of FPF and earned himself a place on the Week 1 Team of the Week as a rusher. The other name on this roster that I recognize, Marilou Côté Noël, is a phenomenal rusher in her own regard and has been terrifying Coed quarterbacks for seasons now. Their opponents, 3HUNNAS, are coming into this season with yet another new quarterback, Marc Antoine Martin. Martin has looked solid to start the season but has been bitten by the 3H curse and is already overly fond of the deep ball. He is averaging over 13 yards a completion but has completed just 55% of his passes which tells me that he loves to chuck it deep. All in all, this is an extremely difficult match to predict since I have never seen a majority of Sneaky Snakes’ roster play. I will take the safe bet and predict 3HUNNAS to win, but I would not be shocked to see the Snakes pull off an upset.

 Prediction: 3HUNNAS

There you have your week 1 article! If you have any questions about Coed, the Women’s division, or the league in general please feel free to reach out. If not, good luck to everyone in Week 2 and I look forward to seeing you at the field!